Millions In Regrets

Reality check: Pippen needs to go to work

It has been only a couple of months, but Scottie Pippen hasn't cracked open the scrapbooks and tapes to start reminiscing about a career that brought him six NBA championship rings.

"It hasn't been that kind of time," he said. "I've been in the courts the last year and a half."

A recent $11.8 million judgment against his former money manager would seem to be a happy ending to his legal wranglings, but Pippen fears he might never collect. So the routine continues, and legal fees mount.

"It's very stressful," Pippen said. "It's hard not to take it home with you. All your mail and phone calls involve that. I retired from basketball and now I have to deal with chasing my own future, and I wonder how long I can chase it. It's a job [in itself]."

A harsh reality set in long ago.

"There isn't any job out there like the NBA where I can just go out there and recoup my money," Pippen said.

Pippen said most of his endorsement deals have expired and that his shoe contract with Nike was "never good to begin with." He plans to do some media training in the next month in preparation for a possible career in broadcasting.

"I'm not looking for a job yet," Pippen said. "But I've done it before and I want to be well-polished if I'm going to put myself on a national stage. I used to do a local Sunday deal here with Fox, and I did a game with Red [Kerr] and Tom [Dore] the other night."

Pippen said he has been approached to audition for ESPN radio but has not accepted the offer.

"It's not that taxing," he said of broadcasting. "I can still have a life, still have a family. I know it's a little bit of work, but it's the kind of work I'm ready to go into after being a professional athlete."

Another avenue Pippen said he may explore is coaching.

"I know I could coach, but I'm not willing to give up eight to 10 hours a day, not yet," he said. "But if I had a chance be under somebody like Phil [Jackson], it's something I want to do. I'm sure Phil will be back."

Unfortunately, some of Pippen's relationships have fallen by the wayside, including a once-inseparable friendship with Horace Grant.

But he said he stays in touch with Michael Jordan.

"I wouldn't say we're close friends, but we're still friends," he said. "I talk to him. Things are still cool with Michael."

If he has any regrets, Pippen wishes the Lakers had been willing to pay the last year of his Houston contract in 1999 so he could have rejoined Jackson and played with Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant.

"I could have played in a wheelchair with those two," he joked.

But Pippen said he does not miss the game.

"I can ride over there and watch practice and relieve that little urge," he said. "I can practice with them. I really feel like I got it all out of me. There's no second-guessing.